The Earth Groans: Strange, Unexplained Sounds in Conklin, Alberta 01/12/2012

Here’s another one to file under the weird and wacky reports of strange and unexplained “earth sounds”. The first video appears to have taken place just this past week in Conklin, Alberta Canada.  The second video is an August 2011 compilation of odd sounds that have been recorded around the globe prior to August of last year.

Update: Added third video purporting to contain recordings made during the first two weeks of January 2012 (unconfirmed) …

Sudan: Former Prime Minister Accused of Blasphemy After Proposing Women Be Allowed to Lead Prayers in Mosques

Don’t be surprised. According to Islam’s prophet, women are little more than a man’s possession imparted by Allah with only half the intelligence of her owner-husband. Which is probably why the word of a woman is only worth half that of the superior sex. And why a female receives only half the inheritance that a male receives. Such intellectual and social deficiencies must therefore mean that it’ll be twice as hard for a woman to earn her way into Mohammed’s Paradise, which would explain why Mohammed said that a majority of the occupants in Hell were women …

By REEM ABBAS – “A leading Sudanese opposition figure is under heavy criticism for proposing that women be allowed to lead prayers in mosques.

Sadiq Al-Mahdi, who is a former prime minister in the government, has also been pushing for the abolition of the niqab, the female face veils, as a way of ‘freeing’ Muslim women in Sudan.

Currently, Al-Mahdi leads one of the country’s major opposition parties, the Umma Party.

Reacting to the proposals, the Sharī’a Association of Scholars and Preachers of Sudan denounced the comments as ‘blasphemy’ and demanded the opposition leader atone or face trial.

The association is charged with the responsibility of defending Islam, a religion that has strict guidelines for women, especially on dressing.

In recent years, another opposition leader who is a popular Islamic theologian in the Northern African country, Hassan Al-Turabi, was declared an apostate after making statements about women’s rights in Islam.

Al-Turabi who leads the Islamist-centred Popular Congress Party (PCP) also said that Muslim women can marry Christian and Jewish men as they are ‘men of the Book’ and that women could lead prayers in mosques and should have equal rights with men.” Source – Africa Review.

Uganda: 15 Year-Old Christian Girl Locked Up By Father for Six Months and Tortured for Leaving Islam

Luke 21:16-17, “You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of me.”

“BWERA, Uganda, January 17 (CDN) — A 15-year-old Christian girl in western Uganda who lost the use of her legs after her father locked her in a room for six months for leaving Islam has begun to take tentative steps.

Susan Ithungu of Isango village, Kasese district, had been hospitalized since September 2010 after neighbors along with police rescued her from her father, Beya Baluku, who had given her hardly any food or water. He was arrested shortly afterward but quickly released. She and her younger brother, Mbusa Baluku, lived alone with their father, who was divorced from their mother.

In March 2010, Susan had trusted Christ for her salvation – prompting her father to threaten to slaughter her publicly with a knife. Pastor Joseph Baluku of Bwera Full Gospel Church in Kasese said neighbors who discovered that the girl was locked in a room with almost no food or water notified authorities.

After her release, they took her to a hospital on Sept. 6, 2010. She would not be discharged from hospital care until Oct. 19, 2011.

After Compass published her ordeal on Aug. 11, 2011, several individuals and ministries came forward to help her… She now lives in a rented house in an undisclosed location.” Read more.

Massachusetts: At Least 20 Dolphins Found Dead in Cape Cod Area, Number of Dolphin Strandings Unusually High

By Dominique Debucquoy-Dodley – “(CNN) — At least 20 dolphins have died after washing up near several Cape Cod towns, an International Fund for Animal Welfare spokeswoman said Monday.

Between 40 and 50 common and Atlantic white-sided dolphins have been found stranded close to the shore since Thursday, and the number will likely rise, said IFAW spokeswoman Kerry Branon. Some animals were released Monday near Provincetown, bringing the total number of animals saved to 19.

‘It may not sound like a high success rate, but when you consider that 27 were alive when they washed up, I think we’re doing pretty well.’ The remaining eight that were stranded alive died.

Stranded living animals are given full health assessments, including ultrasounds and hearing tests; dead animals are given CT scans and necropsies, Branon said. Five released dolphins have been equipped with satellite tags on their dorsal fins to track their location and to see if they’re surviving.

Despite January-April being ‘high season’ for dolphin stranding near Cape Cod, IFAW experts aren’t exactly sure why so many dolphins are appearing now.” Read more.